


Stable

by mneiai



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Drabble, Gen, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 04:42:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/618192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mneiai/pseuds/mneiai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Henry, in the beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stable

At first they encouraged her to get an abortion. Emma thought about it, seriously thought about it, but as much as she _hated_ Neal, she couldn't hate the baby. It was a symbol of the only love she'd ever had, even if that turned out to be complete bullshit in the end.

  
She thought about keeping the baby, of course, ignoring the social workers and nurses pressuring her towards adoption. But when she held him in her arms, stared into his innocent little face, she knew she couldn't. She only had a few months left in her sentence, but anything could happen in that time. If she put him in foster care now, he might end up there for years--and she wouldn't wish that on anyone. And what would she do once she was out? She had nothing: no money, no education, no job. All the ways she could think of to survive wouldn't work if she had an infant with her.

  
Adoption. He could have a family, like she hadn't. He could be provided for, like she wasn't. The social worker told her that a closed adoption was best, fastest. Emma agreed to it, not because of that, but because she thought maybe her son would never have to find out about her. He could grow up thinking that his parents were all the parents he had. He would never have to wonder about why a mother had given him up, if it was because he wasn't good enough.

  
She cried for two days after they took him, arms clutched around her stomach. She tried to remember every little detail about him, despaired at how quickly she forgot.

 

 

Eventually it got better. Every day she told herself that he must be happy, he must be safe, in a stable home. Until eventually it wasn't every day, and then it wasn't even every month.

  
When Henry showed up at the door, all of those reassurances crumbled. There was something wrong, horribly wrong, and it was her fault.


End file.
